Out of the blue last week, I got laid off. There may be signs of economic recovery out there, but we're not seeing much on the ground here in BC. I was the sixth person at my company since Feb. this year to get laid off. I know several other people who've also been downsized this year, so it's still pretty common for this recession.
Now when I tell people I got laid off, the first thing they say is "sorry to hear that". Well, I'm not sorry at all. I didn't exactly love my last job and rather than looking at this as something terrible, I see an opportunity. It didn't exactly fit my plans, but I'm nothing if not adaptable.
I'd been looking a lot at how to move my photography to the next level and segue over time into turning it into a profession. I've been doing a lot of research and trying to figure out how to focus down on what I really wanted to do with it. The idea was work full time for a few more years, develop my portfolio and get some paid photo jobs over time, get out of debt etc.
Instead, since I qualified for employment insurance, I've decided to embrace this chance to go pro now. I plan on applying to the small business entrepreneur program funded by EI and starting my own photography business. It'll be a lot of hard work but I am relishing the challenge. I am finding myself obsessed at the moment with further research to fine down what I want for my business model and locating resources to help with that.
As I go, I'll be posting these resources here and using my blog to collate information and give myself a visual progress record I can refer back to. The information may even be of use to other photographers since there isn't much out there that really draws this together.
For this week's links, here's a few I've found that are very helpful and others that look like they may be.
Professional organizations
CAPIC - The Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators in Communications
PPA - The Professional Photographers of America
Business/Photography Consultants
Photo learning sites
And for a little inspiration or a kick in the pants as required
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